


And you thought I was normal...

by Crystalclearlies



Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Author Is Sleep Deprived, Howard Stark's A+ Parenting, M/M, Mean Avengers, Mutant!Tony, Sorry Not Sorry, Uncle Nick Fury, barely updated, idk how to tag, kind nick fury
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-01-04
Updated: 2018-09-11
Packaged: 2019-02-28 11:27:19
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 18
Words: 21,544
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13270476
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Crystalclearlies/pseuds/Crystalclearlies
Summary: In his lifetime, Tony had been called many names. Not all of them nice. Not all of them true. Genius. Billionaire. Playboy. Philanthropist. Were just a few he chose for himself. But there were always others being thrown around. Merchant of death. Heartless. And of course, most recently – Iron Man. Through all this, the media and the press, friends and the public had never thought to give him the title of mutant. Yet this was perhaps the truest of all...





	1. Chapter 1

In his lifetime, Tony had been called many names. Not all of them nice. Not all of them true. Genius. Billionaire. Playboy. Philanthropist. Were just a few he chose for himself. But there were always others being thrown around. Merchant of death. Heartless. And of course, most recently – Iron Man. Through all this, the media and the press, friends and the public had never thought to give him the title of mutant. Yet this was perhaps the truest of all.  
Tony doesn’t remember much from his childhood. But then again, one look at the right article, blog or newspaper and it’s a crash course on his own life. Sad, he knowns, but sadly true.  
What he does remember is cold slaps and dark words. An absent father who made up for lost time with continuous, cruel experiments filled with blood, screams and fleeting pain filling brief moments of consciousness.  
He also remembers a warm embrace from a loving mother, games with Jarvis – a role model and father figure for the young genius- cooking with his aunt Ana – Jarvis’ wife – learning how to shoot, fight and spy with aunt Peggy who, as the young genius got older would sometimes bring a friend from work to help with his training, affectionately named uncle Nick.


	2. The story begins.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> the translations are in brackets and if they're complete BS the blame Google as, unfortunately, I don't speak any other language than English.

Tony crept past his father’s study on the first floor of his family’s mansion before, after making it to the other side of the door frame, the young genius carefully listened at the door, listening for any sign of life. There was none. The brown haired toddler sighed in relief – his father was away…again, looking for that stupid frozen super soldier. Shaking the negativity out of his head he focused on the silver lining, with his absent father doing a great job of living up to his name and being, well, absent, he could be as loud as he wanted. Especially when playing with Jarvis and his Aunt Peggy who promised she would visit today so long as her job was calm. That’s what she had said. She’d promised.

  
With a loud yell, the tiny toddler started to make his way down the seemingly endless corridor to the living room where his mother sat. After what felt like days but was really just minutes the boy reached the wide doorway of the modern, stylish living room. His mother, with her beautifully tanned skin and dark Italian hair with eyes to match – all of which she’d graciously passed down to him – sat in her favourite armchair that, unlike the rest of the lavish furniture sat with its back to the rest of the room, facing the extravagant fireplace. It was here that his mother read while waiting for his aunt Peggy to arrive from work. Tony stuck his head around the door and peeked in, unsure where or not he would scare her if he made any sudden movements. She looked deep in thought, living the book with its characters if the crease in her brow was any clue. Slowly he crept forward. Tripping slightly on the edge of the rug, he stumbled forward towards his mother who, at the slight noise of distress, had turned in her seat to face him. The crease in her brown disappeared revealing her flawless skin. Her eyes lit up at seeing her little boy.

  
“Come here, piccolo" (baby) her voice was soft, smooth and held a gentle lilt emphasising her beautiful Italian accent especially as she murmured the language of her home land. Her lips held a soft, warm smile as she saw her child, her baby boy, light up at the Italian. She knew that it would always be his strength when it came to languages. It didn’t matter how clever he was, he was brought up with Italian and she knew from experience that English wouldn’t come easy - it was too harsh and bare - completely different from her natural tongue. Besides he was two now and was speaking sentences - stilted sentences, but sentences none the less - in almost perfect Italian, yet he could barely say his name in English. Her husband wouldn’t be happy, and she counted on him not realising until her, Ana, Jarvis and Peggy could get some kind of English accent and words out of Antonio without it sounding forced. Then again, the boy’s father would have to present for him to realise so maybe her plan would prevail.

  
"Mamma, dov'è papà…studio vuoto" (mom where’s dad, study empty) her precious boy. His accent was flawless, his genius mind working hard to copy hers. If she wasn’t so scared of what Howard would think, she'd be beaming. As it were...well life was hard but others had it harder, so she digresses.  
"English, Anthony" she chided gently. Hey eyes watched his mouth form a small frown, whether at hearing his 'formal' English name or whether he was interpreting what she had said, she would never know.

  
"Scusa (sorry) mamma...gone dad" he tried, knowing full well his mother wouldn’t answer unless he at least tried. He pouted at the words. They sounded wrong but he refused to try again. He hated English.

  
"Dad is gone," his mother corrected gently, "and he's, away." Tony watched his mother’s eye water a little until she shook her head and returned her focus to the two year old in front of her. Mio Dio, (dear god) Howard wanted the world to meet tony in two years. It took her 4 years to learn English and she'd been just as stubborn as her son was and she’d been 13. But her piccolo was not only a genius but a toddler with a large sweet tooth, she doubted there was anything he wouldn’t do for a cookie. "Your aunt will be here soon Anthony. Zia Peggy" (aunt) she added after watching Tony struggle with the English language. Tony eyes lit up and he clamoured to his mother’s lap, giggling when she made an exaggerated 'omppft' noise when he landed heavily on her stomach.

  
"Ti voglio bene mamma" (I love you) this time Maria didn’t bother to correct or chide tony. Starks - especially Howard Stark saw love as a weakness, a shame as not only was love a beautiful thing but it wasn’t like the man she met and fell in love with but a man made of stone. So she allowed Tony to show emotion in secret, in a language Howard didn’t know, not even making an attempt, even before his heart turned to stone, even though it was the tongue of his wife. He just expected her to give up speaking Italian, forget her roots, all because he couldn’t be bloody arsed to learn one damn language. But still it allowed her and her son to have this one advantage, one privilege. So instead she smiled and whispered her reply "Ti voglio bene Antonio, ti voglio bene."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I should have the next chapter up by next week which includes Peggy and Fury. But school starts up then as well so no promises that I'll have it finished.


	3. Bursts of power...well just one really.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Once again, translations are in brackets, sorry if they're wrong.

Both mother and son were pulled from there moment of serenity as the bell rand and echoed through the large, empty mansion. Maria watched with a small smile as her son’s entire face light up. Antonio wiggled his way to the floor, landing gracelessly with a thump, on the floor before struggling to his feet and waddle-running to the entrance of the living room.

  
A young woman, no older than the mother who sat in her chair by the fire, entered the room closely followed by a man neither of the presents Starks recognised. The woman had deep chocolate hair, only a touch lighter than the Italians in front of her that danced in curls around her face before laying peacefully above her shoulders. She stood with her shoulders back, clear military stance, even as she leaned into her hip or bent to crouch in front of her godson, Tony, to ruffle his hair. Unlike the man behind her, she was clearly comfortable and confident with the house and its occupants.

  
“Zia Peggy, Zia Peggy. Sei venuta! Sei venuta! Chi è quello?” (You came. Who’s that) Aunt Peggy looked over to the boy’s mother, clearly questioning the boy’s choice of language, Maria shrugged in a ‘what can you do’ sort of way.

  
“Now now Tony. English please. And this is a work friend of mine... err amico di lavoro si chaima (work friend he’s called) Fury, Nick fury. Say hi sweetheart.” Nick fury looked curiously at the timid boy who was supposedly the son of the eccentric billionaire. This kid didn’t even speak English for Christ sake! Besides, with a father that confident, the boy shouldn’t be hiding behind Director Carter’s leg.  
“Ciao” at Fury’s blank look the boy looked down before glancing at both his mother and ‘Zia Peggy’, whatever that meant, before expanding with a sullen ‘hello mister’ – ah so he does speak - the words – although perfect English, especially for a child of his age – were clothed in a thick accent which even Nick had trouble hearing through and he worked for a spy organisation and spoke a handful of languages himself. Mentally he decided that Italian would be added to the list.

  
“…ciao” Fury knew his pronunciation was wrong the moment the boy looked at him weirdly.  
“no. ciao non ciao” Truthfully Nick heard no difference but he nodded along like he did before mumbling ‘noted’ under his breath. Glaring at his boss as she and her friend – Starks wife maybe. She looked years younger than him though – struggled to contain laughter at the youngster’s lesson in his mother tongue.

  
“I’d hate to interrupt” Peggy’s tone suggested anything but, “but this is, unfortunately a walk in visit, il mio lavoro é impegnativo” (work is busy) she shortened for tony, who glared at the statement “but I’ll visit next week I swear” with a kiss pressed to Tony’s forehead and a ruffle of his hair on her way out, after hugging Maria of course.

True to their word, both Aunt Peggy and Nick Fury turned up the next week, this time Fury was armed with both extensive knowledge of Tony and Maria from said woman and Peggy, along with the new skill of being able to speak Italian, kinda.  
\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The enormous, contemporary kitchen was a whirl of chaos filled with a toddler, an aunt and uncle, a mother as well as a butler and his wife. None were acting particularly dignified but none cared enough to point it out. Antonio, the two year old toddler, Jarvis, the butler, and Ana, the butlers wife and child’s aunt, were dancing around Maria, aunt Peggy and, the newly deemed uncle, uncle fury mixing ingredients and yelling out lyrics. Soon the three adults left sitting stood and joined the chaos laughing at the fun that there was to be had.

  
Sure, more batter ended up on the walls and floor but the cupcakes and cookies were delicious and all parties involved enjoyed them while cleaning their mess and while watching cartoons afterwards. Tony was happy. His father may not be there but he had everyone else he loved surrounding him and caring for him when he burned his finger on the hot metal baking tray.  
\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

A thoroughly exhausted Tony crawled into bed and closed heavy eyelids against the world.

  
That night he dreamed of an electric blue light dancing just out of reach. He could see this blue light touch light bulbs and turn them on, change radio stations with a glance and dance into the large TV screen that sat proudly in the living room. But most importantly, the little ball of light curled protectively around his still aching burnt finger soothing it until it was no longer red raw but smooth and cool looking like it did before the white hot metal contacted his skin. Even though its powers excited the young, sleeping child it was the elegant dance of the light that had him entranced. The next morning he awoke with more energy than he had in a while and to his astonishment his finger carried no burn nor scar. After weeks of the same dream, Tony’s genius brain started to look past coincidence and see a pattern. But still being only two, while he could see the pattern he didn’t know what to do with it so poor little Tony carried on being oblivious to the power that was held inside his tiny body.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'll probably aim to update on Fridays, but it might be more every other instead of weekly cause I don't know if I can complete one a week with school on top of that.  
> Next chapter should introduce Howard and his impact on Tony's life.


	4. New languages, New promises...

Tony sat in his mother’s favourite chair reading one her books while waiting for her to return from the gala she was attending. His father was out, as always, and Jarvis and the rest of the staff were busy leaving Tony to amuse himself by reading one of the more challenging books. He was lucky his father wasn’t around as if he heard him muttering in Italian he would be furious and that’s before he realised he was reading an Italian book. God only knows what he’d do then.  
Coming across a word Tony couldn’t read he started to mumble it under his breath trying out different pronunciations. As he was completely unaware to his surroundings, absorbed totally in his book, he wasn’t expect the sharp blow that lay to rest on his cheek. Glistening eyes turned up looking upon his father who was drunkenly sway on the spot; dangerously close to tipping over.

  
“Speak ‘nglish ‘tupid boy”

Tony tilted his head slightly. English was hard enough, but slurred English gave Tony no chance.  
“Useless. Nothin’ like ca’tain ‘merica”

Ah, but Tony knew that name. Captain America the damned golden boy, the favourite son. He wasn’t even Howard’s son and yet he still beat Tony in every way.  
“Be more like ca’tain ‘merica boy.  
Howard seem to sway once more. Pondering on what he’d just said before adding,  
“ ’nd learn some damn ‘nglish”

  
\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
That night Tony went to be with new bruises, the most prominent a large red hand print etched into his reign cheek, and a renewed determination to perfect both the English language and his accent. He would please his papà if it were the last thing he did.

  
That night Tony planned his new education and dreamt of his little blue light swirling around his bruises healing them and taking away the pain. Papà wouldn’t realise, he was too drunk to remember whether or not he’d left any evidence. He’d simply think he was careful enough to not hit hard enough.

  
The next few weeks were hard on poor Tony, but with his renewed determination he knew it would be worth it. There were plenty of people for him to learn from and he spent hours listening intently to anything he could. He made the staff describe what they were doing, cooks read out recipes and shopping lists, cleaners recited everything that was in the storage cupboards and he followed them whenever he could, listening to them say the name of each room, the names of the furniture that decorated them and which direction they were moving them.

  
After three weeks of almost painful dedication, Tony was more than confident that he could not only speak English but pull of an accent as well. He only hoped his papà would be proud. It was another week before Tony’s mamma sat him down on her lap and attempted yet another English lesson.

  
“Come on Antonio, what you did today, English please, as usual”  
Tony opened his mouth and let all the lessons he’d learned pour out watching attentively to the pride which spread all across his dear mamma’s face.

  
It was another few weeks before Howard learned of Tony’s new acquired skill and he demanded that he hear it. Wanting to make sure that it was up to scratch no doubt, after all the media should never learn that Tony was so stupid that he couldn’t even learn English until he was three. Why Howard himself could speak full sentences when he was two. Even though Tony had a perfect accent and was able to speak English so freely it would seem as if he’d been speaking it all along, Howard was not proud of this small toddler who was meant to share his blood.

  
When Tony saw disappointment opposed to pride slip onto his papà’s face, he felt his eye’s water; biting his lip in an attempt to withhold his tears. His papa noticed.  
“Weak. Stark men are made of iron. Stark men don’t cry. You useless baby. Nothing like Steve. Leave you stupid, useless child.”  
When Tony didn’t move; frozen in shock, sadness and utter confusion. Howard reached out, connecting the back of his hand with Tony’s cheek; turning it a scarlet that contrasted with his olive complexion.  
“I said LEAVE” Tony scampered out of the room; going as quick as his little legs could take him.

He watched sullenly in the mirror as his little blue light danced and flowed out and around him; drying his tears and dulling the smart of his papà’s…no his father’s slap. He vowed that he would do all he could to be smart like his father, brave like his mother but most importantly strong the Steve Rogers – Captain America. He would impress his father one day. He just knew it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was gonna include more of Tony's powers but needed something to introduce Howard and the power he holds over Tony in the way of his behaviour and thoughts.  
> And thanks Bowtielover42 for the idea :)


	5. A hidden life comes with a hidden room

Tony wandered alone through the corridors of the stark mansion. Occasionally he glanced up towards the ceiling looking at the cctv cameras that watched over the house, some obvious others hidden, but not to him, never to him. While his feet wandered he let his mind follow suit.

  
\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

_It was a month since his promise to himself, since his father caught him showing off his Italian roots. But, right now his mamma and father were out and so the three year old stayed hidden in his bedroom. Whilst other children would run wild happy without supervision, Tony stayed alone practising. His dreams were now much clearer and he found he had no trouble following their instructions. Already he had mastered how to make his little blue light heal his wounds, turn on small pieces of technology – the radio, a light bulb and the blender in  one of the kitchens. Even though he was only three – nearly four - he knew his blue light was connected to electricity. Originally he connected it to technology, but it didn’t make sense since it healed him and he didn’t have technology in his blood, right? So then electricity – he had asked Jarvis once if there was electricity in his veins. And there was! Electrical impulses, small, but maybe enough for him to lock onto and speed up to heal himself._

_And so he sat alone, trying to control the electricity in the cameras so that he could tap into them and watch the house. He had to be careful especially after his father had found one of his secrets. So absorbed in his concentration to pull out his little light, he didn’t sense his mother arrive until she let out a gasp at the electric blue light that sprung from her child’s hands._

Tony remembers the fear that went through his mind until he felt pure relief that it was only his mother and Jarvis. He remembers his mother explaining about mutants and why his father must never know. He remembers asking if his father would hate him, be angry.

 _“No, no Antonio. He loves you he does. But sometimes, sometimes the wires in his head get twisted. He mistakes frustration, like you knowing Italian, for disappointment like for not knowing English. He mistakes someone special for someone to be feared. He loves you but sometimes love gets, hidden beneath the wires and the genius.”_  


Tony knew to be careful and now always checked the positions of those who didn’t know through the cameras before he practices. But today, today he was careless. He was practising a move to control the light to always be visible to him and not have to be called upon. It required complete concentration and his monitors on the cameras slipped so he didn’t get the message that one of the bugs had picked up his father walking toward the living room.

  
“WHAT IS THIS, BOY” Tony jumped violently with shock and fear. Not knowing how his father would react, he managed to keep his tears away but a whimper slide passed his lips unbidden.  
“SHUT UP YOU FREAK” Howard clasped his hand around Tony’s thin arm, nearly snapping it with his harsh movements  
He tugged his only son towards his labs then through the secret door at the back of them.

It had been an entire two months since she had been home and before she returned she had been told that her husband had shipped her son off to school. She wouldn’t see him for god knows how long. and she planned to correct this.

  
“You forget your place Maria” Howard was on his way to his labs, to his son, their son, but Maria would never know. He was so close to discovering the secret to mutants and he knew it. The experiments were only giving more and more positive results. “He is at school, with boys his own age and there he’ll stay until I decide to bring him home. Understood?” When she went to argue, she felt a large hand fly down on her cheek leaving a red hand print in its place, feeling useless Maria nodded, upset and wanting nothing more than to see her son and knowing that Ana, Jarvis, Fury and Peggy would be in despair at being unable to say good bye to their little nephew. Sighing dejectedly she turned away from her husband to make her way to their shared rooms. So she missed the smile that graced her husband’s face as he slid into the hidden room.


	6. Secrets unveiled and rescue parties...

It had been two years and Maria had heard nothing from her son. He was now five and for him not to be writing was absurd. At three he could write in English well for his age but could write perfect Italian so there was no reason for this lack of communication. She thought maybe Howard was keeping the letters from her but after checking with Jarvis and the local post offices there were no letters coming in that could even slightly be linked with her missing son. She was certain he was missing now but when she brought it up, Howard told her that he was in contact with the school and that her sweet Antonio was just too busy to write. She believed it. Last year.

 

This year she called bullshit.

 

It was nearing what would be Tony’s fifth birthday and six adults sat around a luxurious dinner table. Most were familiar faces: Maria sat up straight, her face grim, on her left sat Peggy who had her normally curled hair pulled into a ponytail. Next to her sat Nick, his usually poker face front broken by the tapping of his fingers creating an unset rhythm against the oak. On Maria’s right sat Jarvis and his wife Ana, both faces sober with a determined fire held in their eyes. The couple didn’t have children and cared for Antonio deeply, both having learned Italian to be able to keep up with his babbles as an infant. At the opposite side of the table saw a man unfamiliar to all. His face showed a mixture of uncertainty and worry over the words flowing out of Maria’s mouth and the thoughts in her head. Nodding his head, Charles Xavier opened his mouth to contribute for the first time that meeting.

  “So, Howard, your husband Howard Stark may be hiding Tony due to his being a mutant.” After receiving affirmative nods and noises he carried on. “While there’s not a lot I can do I can use cerebro to try and find tony and I'll definitely look through his head although I’ll have to be near him and he’s away at the moment, correct?”

This time it was Nick who answered. “Yes, away on S.H.I.E.L.D business. We were hoping the former could be done while he’s away you can always check his head after we have Tony.”

The whole table, Charles included nodded at this.

 

“Well I’ll see you in a few days then” Charles wheeled himself out toward the car that was waiting for him in the drive way.

 

True to his word Charles returned to the manor a day before Howard's return. His hair was ruffled and his eyes wild flying from one corner to another; clearly looking for something although no one was sure if even he knew what this mysterious thing was.

 

  “He’s here.” His voice was hoarse as if overused or perhaps not used at all in the past few days. “I don’t know where but he is. He’s scared. In pain. Somewhere” at this all eyes flew to him, the two spies shooting up out of their seats.

 

“Where do we look? The manor’s not exactly small.” Charles heard the worry and concern echo from all the minds surrounding him at Nick Fury's question.

 

“The lab. He’s always in his lab it’s only logical. It’s the only place I never go. The only place I’m not allowed in.” Maria was the one to answer, prompting everyone up out of their chairs and to start running down the hallways towards the labs.

Once there they allowed Peggy and Nick to come forward – being spies they were more likely to find any hidden door. After a few minutes it was Nick who pointed out the slight gap in two bookcases that stood out being wider than any others. Not knowing where the button was they all joined together to pull at the door.

 

Eventually it flew open, a small gust of warm wind filled their noses with the scent of metal, and blood.

 

Charles in his wheelchair had to stay behind once they reached the first dark, damp room. The stairs leading down where impossible for him to manage and it would take too long to carry him. So, he ushered the rest to continue. He would look and see if he could find out what Howard had done.

On a desk a leather notebook sat; simply labelled _one._

_The experiment went well. I have achieved a large sample of blood from the subject although not as much as I’d like due to the subject passing out. With enough time I’m certain I can find the gene that causes this freak abnormality. But until I have, I plan on testing the strange healing factor the subject seems to have. So far I’m certain that the subject has a supernatural control over electricity. I’m intrigued to see if this control has spread to the control of electrical impulses that send messages to heal. If so, I’d be excited to see if this was stretched to reactions, speed and strength._

Charles forced himself to stop reading. Although there was no details it wasn’t hard to guess just how Howard had gained the blood or how Howard had decided to test his theories.

His disturbing train of thought was broken when Maria, Peggy and Ana came charging up the staircase to his right. Their eyes were blown wide and tears fell down all three women’s faces. Close on their heels was Jarvis his eyes glistening with un-shed tears. Then Nick appeared; a limp five year old Tony in his arms – barely covered by the shredded t shirt but covered in scars that lay innocently over his arms.

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It took a few hours but eventually Tony stayed awake, this time long enough to do more than just drink some water and have a bite to eat. Surprisingly, he was well fed enough, Tony was always thin and small for his age and there was barely any noticeable differences. Clearly Howard needed him in a considerably good shape for whatever he wanted to do. Small mercies they supposed.

Now that Tony was awake all the adults were keen to try work out what happened but also didn’t want to push any unwanted memories onto the poor boy. Before they could make any decisions one was made for them.

 

When Howard walked right through the front door and stopped dead when he saw the rescue team assembled in the living room.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter should include Howard's reaction and Tony's decisions for his future.


	7. New name new beginning

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry it's late. but couple of points before you read.  
> from now on there's gonna be a lot of Italian so I'm just gonna put it in italics  
> I mentioned education and I have no idea about the american system so I just used the English one. so GCSE's are completed at the end of high school and a levels are at the end of college.

“Leave” Nick Fury’s voice was cold, stern and left no room for arguments and yet Howard still tried. As soon as his mouth twitch to open Fury stood, shorter than the older man but his voice echoed around the room. “I said LEAVE” Howard turned quickly and left the room heading to his office where his liquor was kept. He needed a drink – especially after seeing Tony, god damned Tony in Maria’s arms.

 

Downstairs, the adults discussed their plans while Tony lay unknowing for the moment of the stress he’d made.

 

“I say we kill him” Peggy was the first to offer her solution and Nick was quick to agree.

 

“You’re welcome at my school, both you and your son. There he could get training and an education. But you may wish to be careful who knows, the world isn’t ready for mutants especially one who is high in the media”

 

“Then no killing” Maria finally spoke up, after looking at her son she made her mind up. “The media would look into that. We could take him to court. If I hold responsibility the media can't question where Tony is. We need this to be a secret.”

 

Tony started too stirred in his mother’s arms. “ _No, no mamma cant, cant. He save people mamma. Soldiers need him. Weapons mamma they die without him”_

Maria wasn’t convinced but one look at Charles told her everything.

 

“He truly believes this, Howard has convinced Tony completely that the, experiments will save others. That he is sacrificing to save the lives of soldiers. While ultimately it’s your choice, I would be careful with fighting him with this. His mind is broken but strong he believes strongly in this and I don’t know how he’s going to react if you do stop Howard”

 

“So say we do leave Howard out in the world, which I hate by the way, does that say he can’t, say have a serious accident of falling down some stairs maybe. A few cracked ribs and I’m sure he could work with only one arm.” It was Nick who spoke this time, his eyes switched from looking at Maria and Peggy looking for approval of his plan.

 

“I agree” Jarvis and Ana had been quiet ‘til now but both spoke up. They knew that realistically, Maria wouldn’t, couldn’t beat Howard in court – he had more money, more connections and better lawyers and they knew on some levels Tony was right. If Howard didn’t make weapons then soldiers would die. Stark tech was advanced before its years and saved millions of people every day, Maria and Tony could end up hated if they were seen as the cause of those deaths. Ana watched as slowly everyone nodded their agreements.

 

“Well, we may not have legal power but we can definitely _persuade_ him to stay the fuck away.”

 

The media was shocked when the next week the world found out that Tony stark was severely ill. Apparently, he’d fallen ill during school and his parents had been contacted. He’d later been picked up and treated. His parents, Maria and Howard, thought it best if he recovered away from the public eye. The world now knew that Tony was staying in the countryside and was not to be looked for or disturbed and that he would, eventually return to the public. After his basic education. They also found out that a few days after Tony left for the countryside, Howard had an unfortunate accident. It was said that he was so absorbed in a new idea, although some say drunk, that he missed two flights of stair. He’s cracked 5 ribs and broken 2, along with a broken arm, nose and collarbone, black eye and extensive bruising. Doctors think that he should wake up some time within the next few weeks but they remain unsure.

 

Meanwhile, mother, son, butler and wife made the transition to Charles’ school. Tony had panicked at the thought of leaving Jarvis and Ana but it hadn’t been long before the professor offered them work in the manor, saying that a growing school needed good food and good staff, and a growing boy needs good family. Peggy and Nick were held under promise of visiting every weekend no matter how busy work was as they’d be needed to help Tony.

 

The next years went fast.

 

It took a year for Tony to act normally again. Soon he wasn’t jumping away at any sound or contact and he started to enjoy his family's company. By the end of the first year at the manor, Tony had regained control of his powers and Charles became Uncle Charlie.

 

Within the next two, Tony had started his education again both mutant and normal. He was completing higher and higher work, and had developed his powers. While he could easily control anything with electricity he was also able to get into people’s heads. At the moment he got echoes of feelings and thoughts but his uncle was sure that soon he’d be a telepath and empath strong enough to feel an entire building full of people’s feelings and point out whose was whose.

 

At 10, Tony was a remarkable young boy. His work reached GCSE level and even a level in things like maths, science and tech. He was likeable and made friends with pretty much any student who walked through the gates. Although all knew him to be Stark's son, he always went by Antonio Casanova and refused to be called anything but. Maria also went by her family’s name Casanova and wore it like a badge of honour. Tony also had learned to fight. He stated that he couldn’t be held under someone else’s mercy – never again. And so Peggy and Fury dutifully taught him everything they knew. (by 15 he’d have better aim than Nick and beat Peggy in most matches when they’d spar) his powers were know off the charts – whether Howard had unknowingly enhanced them was anyone’s guess but he now was a great telepath and empath after receiving training for the professor and a new student named Jean Grey who was a few years older than him and suitably impressed with Tony’s maturity, curiosity and humility towards his gifts.

 

By now his mother, and his uncles and aunts knew he had to go to school. There was only so much they could teach him. So they got him into a school nearby as Antonio Casanova (Stark) and reminded and trained him on what information could and could not be mentioned. (Like mutants, Uncle Charlie and that one of his aunts and uncles ran a secret spy organisation) which wasn’t hard due to Tony being a genius.

 

Then Tony’s life in the outside world began…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so I know a lot of you will want Howard to face worse but I do have my reasons, so before you all comment on how I was too lenient or shouldn't have done it this way or was just plain wrong whatever just read on.  
> firstly, I wanted to stick as close to the canon line as possible meaning Tony loses his parents at 17 in a car crash and Steve wakes up thinking Howard is a saint and that Tony doesn't compare etc etc  
> plus, Maria would have less access to money and connections and lawyers then Howard would so probably wouldn't win meaning Howard would keep Tony and do much worse without the issue of being caught, plus if he did die, people would look into Tony's whereabouts and find out about his being a mutant.  
> finally sorry if this chapter was written badly but I've been swamped in school work and wrote it last night and finished it today so, sorry if it's crap.


	8. New school, New problems

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Anything in italics is thought/said/written in italian.

The first day of school was relatively calm. Surprisingly.

Tony arrived early intending to see his teachers for the day and ask if they could only introduce him as Casanova not Stark and to his luck they all agreed. Next he went into the school’s courtyard. It was a stretch of concrete that held many benches, basketball and tennis courts as well as a few well-placed patches of grass where strategically placed trees were planted to provide shade from the sun. Alone, for the first time in years, Tony sat on one of the benches hidden in the shade and pulled a book out of his back pack. While absorbed in his book, his mind pointed out that others would be arriving soon; he had been an hour early and spent half of that time searching and talking to his teachers. He had remembered his training well and had not only picked a secluded bench away from the rest but one that gave him a view of the entire courtyard – no one could appear from behind off to the side of him they’d have to approach by walking straight at him.

 

 He was the youngest at the school, and the youngest in his year. He assumed there were other 10 year olds in the youngest year but they’d be turning 11 soon unlike him. Anyway the youngest in year 11 (GCSE year in England) would be 15 and most of them would be turning 16 well before he turned 11.

 

Looking up he saw 3 boys approaching him, shocked, as there were many other benches beside the one that held a scruffy 10 year old, Tony turned his full attention to them. His mamma would be proud – she could never get him to concentrate. The teenagers seemed close, they all were joking and pushing each other laughing at the friendly insults were traded. They were surprising dressed much like him – jeans and hoodies.

 

 “That’s our table mate.” the speaker was the tallest of the 3, Tony’s blue light told him he was 5’10”, he had dark blonde hair that stuck up as if he’d been electrocuted.

 

Just as Tony got up to move the boy behind the first speaker spoke. “Stay. You look new. Bloody hell are you actually old enough to go here.” For that comment the last boy, the only one yet to speak gave the second a sharp pinch, which hurt judging by the boys wince. Thanking the boy and returning to his seat, Tony introduced himself before correcting the boys that although he was 10 he was going into the top year – they all looked impressed at this and were quick to introduce themselves as well. He found that the tallest who was dressed in black jeans and a grey hoodie was called Sebastian, or just Seb, Winters. The second speaker was slightly smaller with the same coloured hair and was also in jeans but wore an oversized hoodie with frayed edges around the sleeves and bottom showing the wearer tugged on them often – nervous habit, Tony mused – his name was Jake Baxter. The final teenager wore plain blue jeans that were faded and slightly ripped at the knees along with a black shirt under a red plaid jacket with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows, he was the smallest and the youngest, as well as the odd one out being the only one in the group with deep brown hair – although it wasn’t as deep as Tony’s Italian curls. His name was Alexander, or just Alex, Ryland. All three boys were to be in Tony’s year and Alex and Jake were in his form although he shared more lessons with Seb and had a few with Alex and then Jake.

 

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

The first week went by uneventful. He met all his teachers except his complex computing teacher who was ill the entire week. They were all nice and were happy to miss out his second last name, understanding why he wanted them to. Plus, by the end of the week he was close friends with the three teenagers, Alex, Seb and Jake, and after doing much searching through their thoughts and feelings was sorely tempted to tell them what his real last name was.

 

 He spent the entire weekend explain how much he loved school and by Sunday the entire mansion, and his aunt and uncle who had come to continue his defence lessons, had learned about how cool (albeit easy) school was and how cool his new friends were. His family sat by with quiet pride, glad that the boy who had been through so much finally had some happiness of his own instead of just feeling it from others.

 

 On the start of the second week, Antonio was gonna tell his three main friends his real name. After all, Jean had pointed out if it didn’t go well he could just remove the knowledge from their memories.

 

Unfortunately, he never got the chance.

 

His first lesson was complex computing and as the teacher was here, Tony skipped meeting with his friends to go and talk to him. The teacher was an elderly man, probably mid-50s, with greying hair and a tweed suit jacket, he took one look at Tony before telling he had the wrong room, only the top year were allowed to be taught his subject, Tony just wouldn’t understand. After having the door shut in his face, Tony swore violently in Italian realising this teacher wasn’t going to be a nice as his others.

 

 Knocking again before entering, because he did have manners – no matter what Jarvis said when he practically inhaled his food after a science splurge. As the teacher turned and went to open his mouth, Tony interrupted him.

 

“Sorry to..intrude but I’m Antonio Casanova, I’m new here and I’ve been placed into your class. I may be young but I’m sure you’ll find that I can keep up. I would just like to ask you if you could kindly only read out my first last name.”

 

“What other name are you put under as?”

…

“Stark”

  “If your name is Stark that that’s what I’ll call you, understand.”

 

 _Shit_ was all Tony could think. This was not how he imagined today to go. He was meant to have a great double period of computers before telling his friends that he was a Stark at break. They’d all accept him, and his name, and they’d carry on messing around and insulting each other before going to their next lesson, one Tony shared with Alex. They weren’t meant to find out from some old washed up wanna be professor who had…who had got a main piece of code completely wrong. _Stupid bastard._

 

His teacher definitely didn’t appreciate Tony pointing out that technically he was under as Casanova with Stark in brackets, not the other way around and he certainly didn’t like it when Tony pointed out his mistake. He didn’t even change the bloody thing. Luckily before the teacher could turn from red to purple and start yelling the bell went off causing Tony to scramble to his seat in the back before the stampede of people caused the door to swing and hit him.

 

Tony’s heart sank as the register went from Cannedy, David to Cortez, Annie. It sunk further when the teacher looked up and made direct eye contact with him before reading out

 

“Antonio Casanova Stark”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this is so late, I've been playing catch up with all the work from school. Hopefully the next chapter will be out on time.  
> Hope you enjoy it, sorry if there's any mistakes I only just finished it today.


	9. friend problems and angry mothers

Tony’s tanned complexion paled considerably as he felt the eyes on the entire class zone in on him. He was distinctly aware of his three friend’s eyes on him and could literally feel their confusion at his name, hurt at not being told and in the background his empathy picked up anger at the whole situation and the teacher for doing this.

 

Not being able to sit through this scrutiny, Tony grabbed his bag and scuttled from the intense stares. Unknowingly, his older peers made the situation worse; they directed their emotions to him in their shock and confusion and his minor empathy was picking up everything.

 

Like in every book and film clique, Tony ran to the bathrooms before pulling out his phone and texting his mamma about this new revolution. Her swift reply told Tony that she would sort everything out, not to worry and that the media and Howard would never know.

 

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

“You were gonna tell us yourself, right?” While the first part had sounded sure, the last had sounded hurt and questioning and Seb winced at his tone – he sounded like a whining kid.

 

“Of course. I promise guys I was gonna at break but the teacher he….please don’t leave me..” Now it was Tony’s turn to sound childish (in his defence he was 5 years their junior and when looking back at this moment that would be his first point.) Eyes shifted towards Alex, the teen had an uncanny ability to know exactly when he was being lied to, but he nodded his head; his long brown hair bobbing after the movement, before swinging his arm up onto Tony’s shoulder and using his other hand to ruffle the child’s hair. This action spurring the older two boys to join and before the four knew it they were having a group hug in the middle of the IT corridor.

 

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“You’re trying to tell me that this teacher willingly endangered my son and you’re prepared to do nothing. Did it not enter your mind that Anthony was going by an alternative name for security reasons, or in the heat of the moment did you conveniently forget that he’s the son of genius, millionaire Howard Stark – who has enemies willing to kidnap a small child.” Maria’s voice never raised but if you asked Mr Brown as he watched the war path of the enraged mother it would have been better if she had. He now agreed that he had royally fucked up saying it in front of the entire class but the woman wasn’t giving him time to breathe yet alone defend himself. How was he supposed to know that they boy’s father also had the same ability to piss of important people? Honestly he was here to teach the cold facts not serve some snotty nosed rich kid who was only here due to his money. It certainly didn’t help that his boss, Mrs Vann the headmistress, was glaring into his very soul and ripping it apart with her eyes.

 

“You will organise a whole school assembly and I will explain this situation. If it leaks to the media, well I’m sure you don’t want to know what Howard will do due to one of your teachers endangering his son” Howard won’t give a shit – he’d probably congratulate Mr Brown but neither he nor Mrs Vann knew that, and, as much as saying that man’s name made her feel sick, she was perfectly happy to use his name to protect her and her son. After all, what was the English saying – what he didn’t know couldn’t hurt him.

 

Mrs Vann stood straight, she was taller than Maria (not that that was hard the woman was tiny) and lifted her head before surveying the room around her. She was average height and had blonde hair that tickled her shoulders. She wore a simple black blazer with ¾ sleeves over a simple white shirt; her black pencil skirt was neatly pressed and stopped just before her knees and her black heels clicked against the floor when she walked to the centre of the abandoned class room, standing just to the left of the enraged mother.

 

“Well,” Her voice was level, cold and smooth betraying none of her thoughts, “seeing as it was Mr Brown who made this devastating mistake, he will be perfectly happy to arrange for everyone’s forth period to be cleared and for everyone to be led to the drama studio. I’m sure if we open up the partition between the drama studio and the lecture theatre everyone will fit comfortably – of course Mr Brown would be delighted to do this as well. And obviously, he will more than happy to have one of our most capable staff members in his class when dealing with your son to ensure no more upsetting slip ups are made. Is that all right Mrs Casanova Stark?”

 

Taking one look at the Brown’s scrunched up face was all Maria needed before turning to the other woman.

 

“Definitely”


	10. learning knowledge and secrets..

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, long time no see :) sorry for the long wait, I've been really ill the past few weeks but I'm all good now. Anyway this is kinda an overview of Tony's education to pick up the pace and get to the actual movies. Hope you enjoy :)

The incident didn’t change much in all honesty – so people were nicer to him, but they already were due to his young age. He was still called Casanova and never Stark. If fact Tony had the feeling that most didn’t view him as Stark, son of the prestigious weapons manufacturer, but rather saw him as the skinny youngster who always seemed to have candy and was connected to the hip with Jake, Seb and Alex. It was nice.

 

What did change though, was how much his three friends knew about him. Of course it wasn’t a light, impulsive decision on his behalf – not with all the trust issues he had. (He was better, but still couldn’t deal with being handed things) he spent months painstakingly blending in questions about mutants in their conversations then analysing each and every thought and emotions about their answers before, a week after graduation, he decided to tell them.

 

They all took it extremely and scarily well, although he did have to promise never to read their minds or control them without consent or warning – Tony easily agreed to this, he knew what it was like to be controlled, manipulated and for your privacy mean nothing. It was something he’d never wish on anyone…on his bad days he might admit that the exception to this would be Howard but in general, he tried to keep that man out of his head – he’d been playing there for far too long already.  

 

He, and his three best friends – who were more like his older brothers at this point – spent the summer at Uncle Charlie’s mansion/school. To the three newcomers, Maria quickly became Aunty Ria and they picked up Tony’s nicknames for the rest of his family as Tony did theirs. (Fury’s face was priceless when he came for a visit and three teenagers he’d never seen before greeted him as Uncle Nick – Maria will deny owning a photo of it for years to come, and so will Tony when he finds it framed in his room at the mansion years later before placing it pride of place by his bed at the tower.) Jake, Seb and Alex watched over some of Tony’s mutant training with amusement and jabs when something didn’t go quite right, they joined in on Tony’s self-defence lessons and although they were behind for obvious reasons they caught up quick enough due to their height, weight and age advantages and they helped out in the labs when Tony decided to go on a science – fest. While Seb stayed Seb, Jake quickly became Jay and Alex became Lex, Tony became Nio – after Antonio.

 

At the end of the summer, the three eldest left for college, and at age 11, Nio decided to wait a few years. If and when he went to college he’d have to go by Stark and he knew he wasn’t ready for that yet. He still kept in close contact with his friends and they all met up whenever possible over the week and every weekend where they’d visit everyone’s parents to make sure no one was left out. While he stayed home, Nio worked on his mutant abilities until he was a pro, he’d never lose control of them and could probably use them in his sleep – he actually could use his healing abilities like this as he’d managed to train the electricity in his body to automatically speed up his healing conscious or not if the injury was serious enough. He’d also moved onto healing others with their electricity, it took painstaking effort and concentration but he could and would do it to save his family even if it left him exhausted. During all his training – mutant and self defence, which Seb, Jay and Lex still crashed, he took online college courses, gaining A-level degrees in English, maths, sciences as well as Spanish, French and of course Italian – a language he still loved and since teaching the three newest additions to his family it, it was the language he spoke the most, much like when he was a child – before and after Howard’s “ _influence”_ over a few years of his childhood.

 

At age 14, Nio decided to go to college for real. His older friends were now in uni – Lex was learning to become a mechanical engineer, and Jake and Seb had both gone into computer and coding.

 

Unlike high school, college was…well. Tony was treated differently due to his age and his last name – the fact that he was short for his age did nothing to stop the teasing. Unlike high school, he didn’t have three older friends to help protect him, however much he didn’t need it. He made a few friends but they all expected him to be this arrogant, snobby rich kid and Tony just couldn’t keep up the act, so when not in college he spent extra time with his friends needlessly helping them on homework they all knew they could complete easily and going over the harder theories even though everyone knew them off by heart – the exercise being purely for Nio’s benefit.

 

At age 15, Nio went to MIT where he met his fourth friend, a friend who he’d stay close to, but he’d never be closer to Nio than Jake, Seb and Lex. That man was Rhodey..


	11. MIT: ups and downs, mostly downs..

MIT was…different to say the least. Everyone was years older than him and thought he was only there due to his father not his intelligence; teachers talked down to him constantly and acted like he was 5 not 15. It took the entire first year of his being there for him to prove himself, not to mention that he spent it constantly on edge.

 

His powers were now evolved to the extreme and he had complete control over them. His control over electricity allowed him to heal himself automatically and others with just a thought instead of having to rely on touch like before.  His control was so powerful that he could feel all electricity react to his presence when he walked in to a room. Through his powers over electricity, he’d also developed telepathy and empathy. His telepathy was developed fully now, under the watchful eye of his Uncle Charlie and with helped by close friend Jean Grey. Now he could read the minds of those around him and alter thoughts and memories at either close proximity or a touch depending on how much power he was using. He could also read and change emotions but this was considerably easier for him, however too many emotions caused him to sound emotionless because his own emotions got lost in the sea around him. This unfortunate side effect meant that many thought he was emotionless and didn’t care about those around him.

 

Seb, Jay and Lex were extremely helpful, allowing him to rant and vent about everything that bothered him, offered him a place to relax when the emotions around him became suffocating and the pressure brought unwanted memories.

 

At MIT he stayed in his dorm the entire week, only going home on the weekends to keep up the years old tradition of visiting parents with his three oldest friends. He considered himself lucky, he only had one roommate who was calm, in attitude and emotions. James Rhodes was … nice. After coming back after a weekend with his friends, Rhodey had cornered him and told him to drop the act, stating it was Tony’s room too and he shouldn’t have to keep up the act. It took awhile, but Rhodey eventually saw the childish, immature teenager with a sweet tooth the size of the grand canyon.

 

Just as Tony’s life seemed to be holding itself together for once, shit hit the fan….again.

 

It started as a normal enough day, until he got a phone call from an unknown number.

 

“Mr Casanova, I am from the New State Hospital, and this number is listed as one of the primary for Mr and Mrs Jarvis. Unfortunately, both Jarvis’ passed away in our care, we regret to have not told you sooner but have been asked by their lawyer to tell you their funeral is in 1 months time on 8th February at 1 o’clock if you have any questions, sir, please feel free to..” Tony’s brain seemed to watch his phone fall in slow motion and watched as the glass split, could feel the electricity in it trying to escape, could feel Rhodey’s questioning gaze and thoughts but his own myriad of emotions acted as a tidal wave to those outside of himself. Scrambled from his place by his wardrobe, he half stumbled half ran into the room’s only other occupant. In stumbling, stuttering letters that somehow jumbled together to form half coherent words, he asked Rhodey for his phone, his numb fingers dialling a number he knew of by heart then another and another. Speaking to his friends did little help to his frayed nerves and confused brain and little than promising to be there his three older protectors could do nothing to sooth his swirling minds. Finally, he rang his mother. Mio Dio, his mamma who saw Ana as the sister she’d never had and Jarvis the brother she’d lost when she’d moved to America.

 

Finally when all the phone calls had ended, emotionally drained and feeling numb Nio crawled into his bed ignoring Rhodey’s questions on who he was talking to, what was going on and what he could do to help, Nio buried himself under his blankets and shut his eyes against the darkness that swallowed him allowing his mind to get lost in the memories of his Aunt and Uncle.

 

A month later, Nio stood next to his mother and three friends. Once he knew what was happening, Rhodey had wanted to join Tony but the funeral was for family only, so he regretfully stayed at home. In the months time span, the two dorm mates had become closer, after seeing Tony at one of his lowest moments, Rhodey had realised that there was more to the young Stark than even he thought. They had become best friends and although there was a lot Rhodey didn’t know about Tony, he knew more than most and that was enough for Tony to call the elder his best friend. (After all the other three were his older brothers at this point. Because if there’s anything Nio’s hard life had showed him it was that family didn’t end with blood and it certainly didn't start there either.)

 

So he stood, in the cold chill of winter just past looking blindly ahead seeing only the bleak colours of the grave yard and feeling the emotions of those around him, getting lost in the thoughts that surrounded him. He burrowed under Jay’s arm that lay around his shoulders, got lost in the coat Seb had hung around him and clung to the hand Alex offered him, trying to anchor himself in his own body with his own thoughts, feelings and emotions but only managing a numbness that wasn’t caused by the cold.

 

Later he’d return to his dorm back at MIT, eyes dull and shoulders sagging as holding the world on them and Rhodey, sweet Rhodey would see not Stark but Casanova, see not arrogance and asshole but struggling and tired. But he’d also see the spark that made Tony so lively that made it so easy for him to capture a room’s attention with a click of his fingers. And he’d smile, because he knew Tony would bounce back, he didn’t know it but Tony always did, and if it took a while he’d just have to help him out.  

Of course neither knew that within their time at MIT, this wouldn’t be the last time Rhodey would have to look after his younger friend.

 

Then, the passing of a titan… Howard and Maria Stark die in car accident.


	12. two years passed, two people passed

It had been two years, two blissfully peaceful years. And really that should have been warning enough, Nio never had a peaceful life, something always went wrong. Him and Rhodey had become best friends even when Rhodey took the military root and him engineering, Rhodey was smart enough to keep up with Nio which was one of the reasons they got on so well. He still hadn’t introduced his newest friend to his three older friends and was dreading it. Lex, Seb and Jay didn’t need any more embarrassing stories of him and Rhodey should never hear some of the things the three knew if he ever wanted to be taken seriously by his new friend. But after graduation he was planning a big meet up so all his friends could meet.

 

His Uncle Charlie had opened up the school and had plenty of new students, there had been a slight war between the two sides, but it had calmed down considerably. Tony still spent a few weekends there, helping some of the mutants develop their powers and their personalities.

 

With the help of zia Peggy and Uncle Nick he and his three friends had learned how to fight, shoot and even to spy and be stealthy. Which was great, they even went on a few missions where the threat was low. They were using their skills to help the world…and creep up on others to see who could scare the most people in the mansion per a day.

 

Jay and Seb had started dating, after years of teasing from Lex and Nio that the two were practically dating all through high school and college. Lex had graduated uni early and had taken on another PhD while the others got PhDs in their field.

 

The media had, somehow, painted the picture that Nio went out every night, got pissed drunk then fucked some wanna be blonde. All four of his friends found this hilarious. The older three new that Nio hadn’t actually drank any alcohol and refused to due to his old man, and Rhodey had trouble getting Tony out of the dorm to the cafeteria without threatening to stop buying coffee and anything with sugar. The media would claim to see Tony partying in a club and multiple girls would back up the claim saying he slept with them when in reality he’d been eating sweets while arguing with Rhodey that it was totally a good idea to stay up til 4am watching supernatural even though he had class at 6am. (Tony said he could drink a shit load of coffee – Rhodey won the argument when he said he would make sure Tony was awake by pouring cold water on him instead of an alarm. Tony didn’t risk it.)

 

His mamma had started the Maria Stark foundation that raised money then split it between loads of charities making sure as many as possible got the money and funds that they needed. She had also started the Casanova foundation which raised money for children in bad homes, children who had to move out or run away and children who had been forced to leave their home country.

 

And Howard, well that _bastard_ had carried on his weapon manufacturer. Tony hated it, he knew they save millions, he truly believed that many would be dead without that _asshole’s creations_. But when, because it was a when not an if (Howard would never willingly hand over the company but soon he’d be too old and the public would ask for Tony to take over and he’d have to, he had no argument for not doing so.) he took over the company, Nio knew he would start making defensive not offensive designs for the military. It would take a while, he knew for a long time he would be stuck making weapons but hopefully, optimistically after 10 years of being in charge, he planned to have stopped making weapons.

 

Then came the newest phone call.

 

“Hello, am I speaking to Master Stark, I am? Good. I am Mr Walter Sayer and I regret to inform you that late last night, due to an unfortunate car crash, your parents have passed away. I understand that you don’t want to talk but, due to your fathers will, I have to inform you that you will be receiving a trust fund with 3 million dollars and, at the age of 21, the Stark Company. I will, of course, need written conformation that you agree and respect this. Mr Obadiah Stane will be running the company until you’re of age and while this is in your father’s will, if you have any complaints or concerns this may be changed. The funeral will be open to the public, you will be asked to give a speech and it will be held in two months, fully prepared for by my company, on the 14th June. Please call me back if you have any questions. I will be visiting your.. dorm next week to get conformation and to answer any questions. But, like I said if you have anything urgent please call. Goodbye young sir, and I am sorry for your loss.

 

 

The funeral was a blur.

 

He was dressed in a black suit that matched his four friend’s outfits. He sat in the front row, clutching Lex and Seb’s hands like they were lifelines and keeping his head resting on the arm Jay had placed on his shoulders.

 

He got through a speech about his father, lying through his teeth, keeping the memories away.

 

Then came his mother’s. His voice cracked and his accent fought to come out fighting the normally vice like grip he had on keeping up an American accent, making some words more pronounced than the rest. Not noticeable unless you knew about his actual accent, like the three boys in the front row who watched as Tony struggled to keep it all together, crying for the grief of their little brother’s pain and crying at the loss of their Aunt Ria.

 

It was only after the speeches were over, the coffins lowered and people dispersing did the four boys rise from their seats, whispering comforting words to each other in Italian glad no one payed them any mind as Nio’s accent came out full force, making most English sound almost unrecognisable to anyone without an Italian accent. It was only then did Rhodey come and greet them. He eyed Tony’s three protectors with thinly veiled suspicion which never fully left, even after introductions were made, but Tony was too tired to mention anything or try and calm his best friend’s ideas about the boys who were crowding around him. He let his head fall forward to rest on Jay’s chest, exhausted, and didn’t move even when his phone went off. Taking the hint, Jay reached into his pocket and answered it, steady ignoring Rhodey’s raised eyebrow at his knowledge of Tony’s pin, something he didn’t even know, something Tony had claimed no one knew except those closest to him, his family. Jay’s voice was filled with a lightness he didn’t feel, but soon became genuine when he heard Zia Peggy’s voice fill the receiver, inviting them all, yes Rhodey too dear, to stay at hers for the weekend, probably the week in smooth, calming Italian. Returning to the rest, he told them about their invitation, all but forcing Rhodey to agree when the man seemed hesitant, using the excuse of ‘Tony will need you, man’ when really he just wanted to meet the newest edition to Nio’s friends. Then, knowing Nio was too tired to remember even something as simple as ‘hello’ in English, muttered the development of residence to the younger in Italian, humming non-committedly when Seb opened the awaiting car’s door for him allowing him to slide in with Nio in the middle of the couple. Their placement meant Rhodey was next the human lie detector called Lex, allowing him to interrogate the newest friend while the others kept Nio busy with stories of their uni life and how they got a laugh out of the newest media crap that had showed up only months ago.

 

They spent an entire week at Peggy’s. By the end they were closer to Rhodey but still wary, although they did get a laugh when Uncle Nick dropped by to see Nio and instead found Rhodey and decided that now was a good chance for him to interrogate the newest friend himself.

 

Sharon, Peggy’s niece, had been visiting that weekend and had been delighted to see Tony and his friends again, despite the poor circumstances. Her ability to keep a smile on Nio’s face had earned her the nick name luce del sol – _sunlight_  – in the group of Nio’s three protectors.

 

Eventually, though the week was over and all five teenagers had to return to their respective uni’s and life continued.

 

Until Tony hit 26…


	13. Growing up and growing closer. The start of one thing, the end of another.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Although I want to stick to the canon as much as possible, I wanted to make Tony younger which is why I made him 26 as this would, by movie logic, make him older than cap by only 5 years not counting capsicle time. This also allows him to be closer to the mutants as he would only be a few years older than most of them instead of decades and he would also be younger than the rest of the avengers.
> 
> Also quick reminder that everything in italics it thought/said/written ect in italian

It was fine until his 26th birthday the past years had been calm; he spent his time getting ready to take over his father's company.

 

While mourning for his mother he designed an AI name DUM-E then quickly followed him up with two younger siblings named Butterfingers and U. He made another more complex AI named JARVIS which, if anyone else other than his 3 brothers asked, stood for just another rather intelligent system but was really a tribute to his aunt and uncle. It had Jarvis’s British accent albeit slightly robotic, had Ana’s smooth way with words and almost maternal caring but it held his sarcasm. As a learning bot, much like the others, they picked up certain aspects and personalities. As well as nicknames; his oldest friends met the bots when they still only understood Italian as Italian speakers themselves. They formed a bond with the complex AIs and had convinced them that they were their uncles – clearly Nio was their mother making them uncles they’d argued – and JARVIS had taken to calling them ‘ _zio_ ’ meaning uncle and had stuck with it even when Nio had taught them his knowledge of the English language for when others visited.  He spent hours slaving over their codes; trying to erase the images of his mamma. _Dio mio_ his mamma, lying in that wooden prison, chocolate hair like straw, olive skin paled beyond what any Italian skin should be. And _dio_ , did he hate his father for this, drink driving they said, if that wasn’t reason enough. But he’d organised for his stupid fucking speech about the future for SI to be with the Maria Stark foundation saying that they were interlocked. Fuck that. Then to keep appearances his parents had to arrive together and he’d fucking drunk before he drove with Nio’s precious mother and he will never forgive him for that.

 

In his own home Nio spoke only Italian, speaking English and keeping his fake accent when someone was around who didn’t know about his first language. Even after all these years he saw having a thick Italian accent as a weakness, Howard had drilled in that other businessman would see it as a weakness a sign that he wasn’t from around here, a sign that flashed in neon lights that he could be taken advantage of. As he grew up, he realised that Howard had been partially right and partially wrong in this idea; it had advantages and disadvantages, but Tony also, selfishly, wanted to keep his and his mamma’s native tongue to those who were his family – Lex, Seb, Jake, his Uncles, Charlie and Nick, his aunt Peggy and a majority of mutants from the school who had learnt it when they realised he felt more comfortable and understood them more when they spoke his language (a lot of the newer mutants didn’t until they met him and even then, a few, who refused to see him as only the son of a weapons maker mutant hater, didn’t realise that the blank look he wore when they explained something complex was because he actually didn’t understand them and wasn’t just him trying to seem superior. Even then there had been some who had refused to learn until they had been told by Charles that Tony usually had a translator JARVIS earpiece but didn't wear it at the school feeling confident that enough people would understand him and he could understand them that he wouldn't need it in a place he considered home. Charles also then had to explain that although he spoke english well enough he often didn’t understand standard expressions or comparisons as he’d grown up surrounded, for the most part, with Italian culture and so wasn’t, for extensive purposes, an American but an Italian with knowledge of the English language to a high-ish degree.)  

 

He created two new jobs within SI so that, if they took them, he could stay near his friends even when he was crushed under all the work a CEO had. His new jobs were well paid, at least double what his brothers were earning now, and were essentially on-call jobs. There was a personal mechanical engineer position that gave Lex access to both his labs and an excuse to have access to his house. He wouldn’t be needed at ‘work’ unless Nio wanted his opinion on a design or needed help in the lab, but he would be allowed to turn up at any point to use the labs for his own projects. He also created two coding jobs for the power couple which was Jay and Seb. It matched that same as Lex’s but they would only be really needed if he needed help with code/computing or if he needed/wanted their opinion. He also made a new military contact made for Rhodey, he had got closer to the older man and knew that he would definitely be a better choice that the asshole they had now. He thought weapons, war and violence were the best things since the big bang, although the man was probably thick enough to not know what the big bang was besides some crap TV show.

 

He slowed the weapons manufacturing, focusing on the defensive aspects. He made plans for radios, tac vests, transports even trying to find even more reliable forms of communication. He made plans to open SI to the public – TVs, phones, tablets, and laptops – whatever he could. He knew the company would only release one or maybe two, at a push, models of public products a year and even then they probably wouldn’t be recognised until he was able to stop weapon production. As a kid, he’d know that without a military contact at SI with a Stark in Control many soldiers would be dead. But as an adult he wanted the reason people were alive to be due to his defense designs not his ability to blow up others before they could fire first.

 

He spent any hours he wasn’t designing or training (physically and with powers) reading over the SI contract and making pages and pages of notes – what was out of date, needed changing or just plain wrong. He made plans for changes that said that so long as you were smart enough to the job it didn’t matter who you were – age, gender, race mutant or not, with his new contract outline none of it mattered except the persons intelligence.

 

At 21 he inherited the company.

 

He published the new contract and spent an entire month going over every employee and looking at their background and personality before deciding whether or not he wanted them in his company. He made sure he knew everyone by name and face (which wasn’t hard with the use of blue – his light), made sure everyone knew him and he ensured that all his employees had the best insurance for everything due to SI – made sure they were respected as people not digits on a spreadsheet.

 

The next 6 months he designed and made his Malibu mansion and all his labs.

 

His labs were designed to work with his electric powers, JARVIS, the bots and blue. They were spacious with spaces for him to project his thoughts with Blue which joined seamlessly with the blue holograms that spread throughout his labs.

 

His mansion was designed with his Italian roots in mind – all open glass, spacious and of course his mother’s price grand piano standing old, but proud in his bedroom – a copy sat in the lobby his mother’s wasn’t for people to drool over, only him and his family were allowed near his shit.

 

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

~time skip to Tony being 26~

 

Nio sat in front of one his cars in his garage wearing a pair of ripped navy jeans that were extremely log in the leg – definitely Seb’s then as he was the tallest of the four – and a black long sleeved shirt that had frayed edges on the hem and the sleeves – Jay’s as the man hadn’t grown out of the nervous tick he’d had when the young genius had first met him and many of the other three’s clothes bore evidence of this. The older three of the friends were all roughly the same height, and, even though Nio was tiny in comparison, he often brought all his leisure clothes many sizes too big, the group had no problem sharing clothes – a habit they’d picked up when they used to all share a room at the mansion and again at the weekends when visiting the different parents. They’d easily fallen into the routine once again when the older three started to spend more time at the Malibu mansion under the guise of working in the labs – all three had their own rooms, except Jay and Seb who shared, but more often than not whoever was staying ended up in Nio’s master bedroom, finding it easier to sleep the way they’d spent much of their teenage years.

 

Music was lasting out of the speakers obnoxiously as Nio tinkered with the car in front of him.

 

“ _give me an exploded view_ ” looking at the display that sat on the car, Nio directed the demand at both JARVIS and Blue, pleased when the display changed to accommodate his wishes and when a little blue hologram showed up next to it. No matter how many times his technology and his powers worked together Nio was always filled with a warmth that reminded him that he could and does do good with his powers even if they remain hidden to the world, they were often what helped make the defensive products that a lot of soldiers owed their life for.

 

“ _The compression in cylinder 3 is low_ ” JARVIS explained the point whilst Blue highlighted cylinder 3 and possible solutions, making the light visible to the normal eye and not just his, he allowed JARVIS’s cameras to see it before asking for it to be logged. When Blue showed a confirmation of the log in both Nio’s memory and JARVIS’s servers he allowed the light to disappear and become visible to him only once again.

 

His music stopped.

 

Heavily resisting the urge to roll his eyes, he continued his worked as Pepper’s heels clicked across the tiled floor.

 

“Please don’t turn down my music” this time he was unable to resist the urge to wince heavily at the harsh sound of American having been talking for hours in his mother’s tongue.

 

“You are supposed to be half way around the world right now.” Oh, yeah. The _stupid_ weapons demonstration. He’d kicked up a tantrum about that but if he didn’t go, the board refused to release the latest defence vest.

 

“Your flight was scheduled to leave an hour and a half ago”

 

He continued talking about how it being his plane, he answered Pepper’s questions about all the concerns she had and felt remotely proud of himself when he didn’t need to use the translator for the entire conversation. As a kid he’d been desperate to learn English and as a three year old had managed to learn English to a level that most 14 or 15 year olds had but when that had failed to impress his absent father he’d stopped learning it. Meaning even though he was 26 in the America language he probably had the same skill as a teenager with the English language without blue translating things and giving him answers to recite and JARVIS in his ear acting as another translator for when he didn’t have time to read the prompts blue gave him. He had never been interested in re learning English – he knew enough and he didn’t really like the language anyway it was one of the few things he didn't want to learn. Ever - it simply brought too many memories of a father he'd rather forget.

 

Before he knew it he had forgotten Pepper’s birthday, again, and been hustled on a plane with bags packed by Pepper. He appreciated the help he really did, but apart from the three suits he knew she packed, everything else was going to be ridiculously oversized unless she’d felt the urge to go right to the back of his walk in wardrobe and find the few clothes he owed that weren’t meant to fit his three taller, older friends as well as himself. Somehow he felt that she’d most likely packed his brothers clothes thinking they were his, and really how could he explain that they weren’t his clothes even though they were in his room. She’d immediately assume it was to do with the playboy persona he played for the media, and for some strange reason he didn’t think saying they belonged to the three older brothers, who were really his close friends but had been his brothers for the longest time, and they were in his room because they often shared clothes and rooms. Yeah she’d think he was crazy or lying. Maybe both.

 

He had only meant to be two hour late at the most. But just as he was about to leave, Lex had called and he couldn’t ignore one of his big brothers. So he’d delayed his car and flight to talked Lex through his latest problem which really boiled down to “ _okay so I found a cute barista and we were talking and Nio he was so flipping cute and we were getting along and then he said enjoy your drink and I said you too. Dio mio I’m an idiot who’s gonna be alone forever help me_ ”

 

Then when he finally arrived, Rhodey was mad and despite never really being in the same room for more than an hour (apart from the week at Peggy’s) his three brothers didn’t have a high opinion on Rhodey and the feeling was mutual. True Rhodey didn’t realise how close the four were but he still didn’t hold them in high regards and his three brothers thought Rhodey was too focused on his job and forgot that Nio was his friend first not military contract and he only had said contract because Nio made it specially. But either way, Nio doubted telling Rhodey that he was late due to Lex’s dating crisis would help in any way. So he made a few wise cracks, brought up some nicknames and got Rhodey drunk (swapping his for sparkling apple juice when the older officer looked away.)

 

The next think he knew he was in a desert, in a suit surrounded by soldiers, soldiers who sacrificed and who he had sacrificed for. Then he had blown up a mountain and was loaded into a hum vee.

Then everything went up in smoke…

 

Literally.

He wonders if life has a bullet with his name on it. Although a bomb might be more accurate, literally and figuratively. His problems seemed to affect everyone around him not just him. However this was a unique case. 4 foot away was a literal bomb with his god damn name on it. Tilting his head he thinks he recognising that bomb, vaguly remembering kicking up a fuss about it but he cant quite remember why..

Oh, that’s right it’s a shrapnel bomb..

 

_Shit_

 

He has shrapnel in his chest

 

He remembers ripping his shirt as it covers in blood seeping from his chest

 

Everything goes blank

 

His last thought to the family the world thinks he doesn’t have;

Lex

Jay

Seb

Zia Peggy

Zio Charlie

Zio Nick

Sharon, his little _luce del sol_

All the mutants at the school that he still visited as many time as possible to help with the Italian lessons, to help with the training, to help those who had been kicked out by their parents.

 

He doesn't remember much else.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What do you think? i probably won't be able to get many more updates for awhile as I've got my GCSEs coming up but I'm aiming to get at least one more chapter up this week. Anyway, what do think of the relationships between Tony and the rest of the characters so far? How do like the story line so far, with the first film coming into play? Comment below, I definitely want to hear what you have to say now that I'm basing a lot of the plot for the chapters off of movies.


	14. Terror and Terrorists, caves and cave mates

Hands in his chest. Metal in his chest. Voices. Faces. Flashes of blue. Darkness again.

 

Groggily, he opened his eyes. No blue light filled his vision. Nothing. No thoughts or feelings that didn’t belong to himself. Although. _Fuck his chest hurt. What the hell?_ There were wires crawling under his shirt. Leading from a small, cold _hole in his fucking chest to a motherfucking car battery._ He forces his memory back through the fog and remembers…not much. Hands holding him down against the pain, remembers three faces of people he thinks he should know; the face of a woman that fills him with sorrow for a reason Nio can’t find. He remembers a family that he can’t place as his own. Not yet. The fog becomes too thick and Nio’s mind snaps back to reality. There’s a man humming to himself in the mirror and he speaks, says something Tony’s mind can’t make sense of. And finally, he reaches down and rips off the off-white bandages that decorate his torso to find _a metal ring in his heart. Great just great._

 

Time passes, and Nio is sure it borders on hours. His limited English knowledge comes back and so do the memories of those earlier unrecognisable faces. His brothers, his mother, his Zia and _uncles_.

 

He sits watching the man make dinner – sludge in a pan – and asks about the hole in his chest. He doesn’t like his answer. He catches the bottle of shrapnel without looking, spy instincts kicking in even now, if his new roommate/cave mate whatever thinks anything of it he doesn’t mention it and Nio’s grateful.

 

Then the door opens and his arms are up. _Dio mio his chest aces, his back aches, his arms ache._ Languages he doesn’t understand are thrown around him, the man to his right translating dutifully. A picture. Of the Jericho. He doesn’t willing make weapons there’s no way he’ll make them for these _bastards._

Water fills his lungs, his eyes, his ears and he struggles pitifully for breath. Images flash in front of his eyes. Himself, his family – he hears his Zia Peggy – the arc reactor at home.

Then there’s a case on his head and they’re outside. In a valley. Surrounded by his weapons and at least 60 terrorists.

He agrees. Already planning his escape. They’ve shown him their resources, their man power and now Nio plans on getting home.

 

He almost gives up, almost give in but his cave mate doesn’t let him.

They’ll never find you….this is your legacy…….murderers.

His cave is redecorated. Weapons come filling in, tools, hats, goggles pile up in the corner, beds are traded for tables and work stations and paper and pens are brought in to line the stations.

 

He breaks down the missiles pulling out palladium. He builds himself a heart out of scraps, learns his newest friend is named Yinsen and begins the plans of mark one.

It’s that night when they’re playing a bastardised version of backgammon that Yinsen asks about family and Tony lies…he likes Yinsen but the camera might have audio and when they escape, because the will, he’ll tell Yinsen he promises that to himself. He’s never liked lying he’s never been good at it despite what the press think but he feels better by promising the truth when they leave even if it’s only to himself.

 

Days later, he watches as Yinsen is forced to his knees and not for the first time he wishes for his powers. He steps forward and guns instantly train on him, cursing in Italian under his breath, he steps back “good assistant” slips through his lips and he watches as the hot coal is dropped and the men leave the room. He’s determined now.

 

They build the suit and he’s in it and the progress bar is slow…too slow and Yinsen is running saying more time more time and Tony can’t move. He feels his powers weak but there. Ever since the arc was put in they’d slowly been returning, but they were fighting the arc he couldn’t control them yet. But the screams he heard, Yinsen’s screams and the power bar moves, speading up and the lights flicker before fading.

 

The camp goes up in flames. Yinsen is dead but so are the terrorists. He flies and crashes and climbs out of his suit, walkingwalkingwalking until finally Rhodey finds him. Soon, he’s back home. Pepper’s crying and his brothers are missing from his welcome back but he knows why. The public don’t know how close they are and he’s insistent it stays that way. His powers are back.. stronger, stronger than most mutants but weak, incredibly weak to what they were.

 

His brothers mother hen him, change the reactor to a new, clean one and stay when he panics – calm words of Italian, stories about his bots while he was away and he chokes a laugh. He calls his aunt and uncles, tells the mutant kids he’s back, he’s fine just tired and he will visit, they all will soon.

 

Then Stane is betraying him and he’s arguing with Pepper. He nearly dies, she nearly dies and then they blow up a factory. Stane’s dead. The guy was always slimy, never had any nice thoughts or feeling towards Tony, or well, anything to be fair. But Tony still feels bad. At least until Jay reminds him of the whole “sold you to terrorists” shit then he doesn’t feel so bad.

 

Then SHIELD come along. He loves his Zio Fury no mistake, but his organisation is … not so great. The WSC can screw themselves and the agents at SHIELD seem to think they’re better than everyone else.

 

The truth is ….

 

 

I AM IRON MAN….

 

 

I am also …. Dying

 

 

Again.


	15. Of Spies and Men

The first thing Nio wanted to do was take an hour long shower, then eat for at least three weeks before falling asleep for a few years. Which isn’t what he was able to do. The first thing he did was get Happy to drop him of at the mansion meet his brothers and get changed into his pyjamas – sweatpants and Lex’s old uni sweater. Then, leaning on Seb’s chest as he sat between his legs, called all of his family. Hours and hours later, Nio had managed to explain everything in halting, stuttering Italian sentences, his voice was rough and harsh as he relived the past three months, his lilting accent was more monotone and emotionless as his powers tried to surge beneath his skin but didn’t seem to be able to – probably the arc reactor he’d need to look into that. He told his family about the cave, Yinsen, Iron man, Obie, shutting down the weapons, Gulmira and Rhodey not listening, getting mad at shutting down the weapons manufacturing that slowly teared away at Nio’s very being – each weapon reminding him of his father. He told them about the poison running through his veins and the black lines that spread after every use of the suit and the time he had left. He watched the tears of his loved ones when they realised they could still lose him, he watched Sharon break at the idea that he might not make it to Christmas – there would be no playing and chasing around the Christmas tree, no obnoxiously loud carols to see who they could annoy first – the adults or Nio’s brothers. He saw the hope in her eyes when she declared he’d find a way he was _Antonio Edoardo Casanova he always found a way_ before she jumped down from her Zia’s lap she looked them all in the eye before telling him she would see him at Christmas when they visited, when he took her to the church his mamma always went to and when he and his brothers arrived with presents overflowing from their arms.

 

It wasn’t long after that the call ended and Nio curled inwards in Seb’s arms, shaking with the thoughts and memories that followed him from the cave. He fell into a fitful sleep in the middle protected by his brothers.

 

He spent weeks hidden in his lab. Nothing. There was no cure. He tried every element, every mixture, compound, atom and nothing.

 

Then Miss Natashalie Rushmanov turned up at his office. He’d been told by Zio Fury beforehand that the WSC had ordered him to send an agent in and she’d been the logical choice in their eyes. Tony -didn’t actually care, he wanted to meet the red head – after all his training came from two directors of SHIELD, he and his brothers had been trained a point where he could say comfortably he’d be able to take her powers or not. It wouldn’t be easy and he’d gain injuries but he could, would win and he really wanted to meet her even if he couldn’t fight her, brag about being the better spy (he’d taken SHIELD missions in the past and still took some now. They were often small enough that no one knew of them or big enough that clearance made sure no one knew who had completed them. Him, Lex, Seb and Jay all took missions but he also went on a few for Zio Charlie – or he did when his powers weren’t blocked by the _hole in his fucking chest._ ) and talk about how compared to some of his missions hers were looking through eye holes in a magazine looking at a baddie across the park. But he couldn’t and so he wouldn’t, despite what Pepper and Rhodey thought he could keep his mouth shut, after all, they barely knew him because he could shut up about the important facts.

 

She walked into his ‘training’ with Happy like she ran the world, like he was already wrapped around her pinkie finger. He almost smirked. Him and Jay, he always had one of his older brothers by his side now that the poisoning had gotten worse much to Pepper’s dismay (neither her nor Rhodey really liked the trio but neither knew how close the four were although Rhodey had a better idea than Pepper who thought they were simply employees turned friends.), had looked over her profile and Jay had laughed at how obvious she had made it, model and smart what else would _Tony Stark_ look for but _Nio Casanova_ could see the spy in her and he did smirk when she broke character to put Happy on his back with an impressive move but his training, Jarv, Jay and the dim lights of blue all pointed to the fact that it left her right side open completely and she either didn’t know or care. At this he rolled his eyes, but knew he’d end up playing along. So as she swayed out of the room he told Pepper “I want one” but muttered under his breath to Jay as Pepper rolled her eyes at him about _“damn overconfident spies with ego’s bigger than the media him and that was something”_ Nio’s mouth twitched into a smirk when Pepper turned to glare at Jay’s chocked of laugh at his angry Italian. 

Seb and Jay had told JARVIS to address her as Miss Rushmanov which is hilarious but also kinda defeats the point of acting like he didn’t know she was spy and not his PA from legal. It certainly didn't help the rest of his employees took to the nickname and encouraged Jarv to use the newly formed nickname. So now JARVIS called her ma’am and nothing else which was weird considering he used names for everyone else but it would have to do.

 

Everything was fine, as fine as it could be anyway. There was still no cure and he now had to tip toe around his own house in case Natashalie found out something she wasn’t meant to (ie. He had three older brothers that the world didn’t know about and they shared a room and clothes and he spoke little English. Cuz that would be _so freaking great for all of fucking SHIELD to know about._ )

 

And then he crashed a race car. Because someone with electric whips and an _arc reactor_ stood in front of his car. Then he was visiting the pyscho in prison bustling through with a few sentences in French. (despite his reluctance to relearn English due to memories of Howard, he knew loads of languages – hello genius mutant spy – French and Spanish had come naturally to him due to their similarities to his own language.)

 

Back at the mansion to two redheads sat in front of the TV and both glared when he walked into the room. He left for his workshop in no mood for their bullshit. Then he had Rhodey and his oh so noble speech of ‘you don’t have to do this alone’ but Nio wasn’t alone and he never would be.

 

It wasn’t long after that Natalie became Natasha out right. The whole ordeal was quite funny – except the part where she accidently nearly set his training off and he nearly _shot her_. He acted like she expected, told her she was fired and snarked back at everything she said and acted indifferently. Then she stabbed him in the neck which set him straight to a strange mixture of a cold cave and a metal room with hands over him and screams a- _fucking hell his Zio Fury had just kicked him in the shin really hard and fuck that was gonna bruise._ He didn’t hide his glare, but he saw the sympathy in the older man’s eyes showing he knew what that had done to his mind and that was not how he had expected this to go. He also saw the redhead’s smug look assuming his glare was to do with the surprise and not a flashback she had forced onto to the man who was years her junior.

 

Then his brothers were in the tower because his home had been invaded by SHIELD baby agents. His lab was covered in Howard’s work and Coulson was threatening him with a taser – which wouldn’t have affected him normally when he had power over electricity but as it was he was pure human with a _heart condition saved by an ELECTROMAGNETIC device_ an electric shock could have killed him and this guy didn’t seem to care. Well, Nio thought smugly, we’ll see how little you care when I tell Fury you won’t be so indifferent when I set my over protective Zio whose your boss on you. He did feel like a little kid telling the teacher but he figured that was kind of natural. He was technically snitching on the agent to the ‘teacher’ but he was 26 he was allowed to be annoying and petty.

 

Watching his father was….disturbing. ‘Greatest creation’ his ass. Not even a person a creation. Nio threw up in the trash can. And again when he found a notebook on experiments for something, but most likely someone even more likely _him_.

 

But he build his new element. And connecting it felt like a power rush. All his powers surged forwards as the new element worked with him not against. He heard every thought, felt every emotion, every pulse of energy in the technology, in him, in everyone around him, a few things lifted from their resting place as he sent a burst of raw power in a blue flash away from his body into the surroundings. (It was an attack move that Zio Charlie had taught him and within the next year he would observe it looked a lot like Loki when he threw raw magic as an attack.)

 

He was good. No he was better. His family was ecstatic. But after a year of being kidnapped, poisoned, spied on and getting his powers back he just wanted a year off. A quiet year. Just him and his massive family. No drama, no spies just his lab, his job (which after making Pep the CEO had shrunken) and his missions.

 

….

 

 

Avengers Assemble.


	16. the start of the end

It seemed, or rather Nio hoped, like a quiet month. All three of his brothers were out of the country which sucked but Jay and Seb were in Budapest on a mission - undercover helping and cleaning up after Hawkeye and the widow's last mission as zio Nick thought that the two were out of their depth despite the WSC disagreeing (the couple was extremely smug about all this) and Lex was at the mansion helping Zio Charlie training the mutants hand to hand combat.

 

Flying out from under the water, the billionaire headed back to his tower talking aimlessly to Pepper whilst checking in with Blue about his elder two brothers status and health. Landing smoothly on the launch pad, Nio allowed the spinning rings to disassemble the suit as he walked forward, bouncing lightly on the balls of his feet he advanced into the main living room were Pepper was waiting patiently.

 

They had a glass of wine, sparkling water in Nio's when Agent could walked out of his elevator. He barely resisted the smirk that was trying to pull at his lip. He'd told Fury about the taster and the man had found a lot of new work find it's way to his desk without an explanation or a pay rise. But then the man was trying to hand him something and babbling about aliens, a norse god and captain a-fucking-merica of course. He watched boredly as Pep sent an apologetic glance at agent and took the folder before sliding along the table towards him. He winced slightly when Pep gave him a weird look as she drank out of his supposed-champagne glass but shrugged it off, she didn’t really care, she was just curious and after a quick mental check he was assured she wouldn’t be asking any intrusive questions.

 

He slowed the bounce in his step as he ambled over to where the majority of his holograms were, listening into both the conversation and thoughts of the two older adults who stood a few steps away. Using Blue and his technology, Nio quickly found the information he needed. Quickly sinking into the new information, he absently waved agent out of the room before blowing up the images around him big enough for Pepper to see as well as him. It took a quick conversation with his impeccable CEO and she was leaving early for the DC meeting. A quick mental memo to his brothers and relevant family members ensured he wouldn’t be interrupted while he did his so-called ‘homework’.

 

He spent the majority of his night split four ways; learning and memorising everything on the file that agent had given him – he’d already seen them both when they were uploaded due to his zio and again when he’d become a ‘consultant’ but he re-read them all absorbing any changes or new notes. Next he a few hours learning thermonuclear astrophysics wanting to both a:be of some use helping out where he could to relocate the tesseract and b:be able to talk to one of his favourite scientists about their main field. The final thing he did was, grudgingly, learn English as much as he could. He wasn’t perfect and Nio reckoned that without Blue and JARVIS helping out it’d be obvious still to anyone who listened that it wasn’t his first language, but as he’d always have at least one of the aforementioned two Nio figured it would do. He also spent just under an hour reading up on the norse mythology and the ancient norse language in case it turned out to be useful.

 

It wasn’t too much longer he was getting suited up on his Zio Nick’s order and flying out to Belgium. He hung back slightly wanting to see what his newly-supposed team would do when faced with the god.

 

He heard Natashalie try and convince Loki to come in quietly. “ _Ahh, yes, the fool-proof method of asking nicely that always get the baddie to stand down, why oh why didn’t I think of doing that sooner.”_ JARVIS didn’t deem his commentary worthy of a response so Nio continued observing.

He watched with slight amusement as the _oh so fucking great_ captain America got his ass handed to him. “Granted he could have done worse but he always seems to leave a side open whenever he punches or kicks at his target. _Seriously this guy thought he was a great soldier he couldn’t do hand to hand and from what I’ve  just watched, and heard from Zia Peggy, he wasn’t a good strategist either as his plan seems to be hit and if that doesn’t work hit harder.”_ Frustration leaked slowly into his voice as he switches from English to Italian and again isn’t deemed a response.

 

Finally fed up, he overrides the quinjet and blasts the so-called god back into the small staircase behind him. Loki turns himself in. Which is … odd. Apparently the capsicle agrees with him, he spends some time riling up the older man before the quinjet runs into trouble with a storm and another…Asgardian? Some flying dude anyhow has grabbed Loki by the neck and jumped out the back of the jet.

 

Nio scrambles for time, insulting the dude wearing a cape, cursing in italian in his head. This was meant to be easy. Collect Loki and get to base but now he’s being…shot with lightning. _What the fuck?_ And..okay so he took most of the power behind the shot but his suit took some boosting it to 400%. That was new. And cool, super, super cool wait til he told zio Charlie…on second thought not such a good idea. It wasn’t long before him and Thor? were tumbling along the forest floor and only seconds later captain America hit the both with his shield. In a very macho display of powers Thor and Rogers had managed to level the forest which was kind of what Nio had been trying to avoid In the first place.

Soon after Zio Nick’s little meeting with Loki, the director and his pseudo nephew had a meeting themselves.

_“how are you Nio, after you’re fights?”_

_“’m fine. A little buzzed, is there, umm, anywhere I can unload this?”_ Nio’s speech was stuttered and held small hesitant, almost embarrassed laughs as his fingers and hair crackled whilst his eyes and hair had turned the same shade as Blue, his helper light. After direction from Nick, Nio slowly opened then stuck his hand into the power circuits, feeding all the excess power into the helecarrier. With a nod as a goodbye, both men split of to meet back at the meeting point separately.

 

Nio messed around as soon as he hit the bridge, in his defence, okay so he doesn’t have a defence but it was fun. He snitched one techie up for playing galaga and then stuck a bug to Fury’s console smirking as his uncle rolled his eyes at his antics. It was unnecessary but he needed a reason that would stick for having all of shields intel. After all, his real job here was to stop phase two per his uncle’s wishes and it was so much easier now, he shows the plans, the team turns and Fury has no other choice but to stop making the weapons. Ta dah.

 

It wasn’t until he was in the lab with the fabulous Dr Banner that Nio looked into Loki’s mind properly. There was something wrong. He played his part on auto pilot, talking and eating and solving equations but not really there. Loki’s mind was … a paradox. His emotions were everywhere: fear was shoved back by anger, logic was held captive by irrationality. It was almost like, he wasn’t in control _fuck_ he was under the same control Barton was and, everyone was arguing. The spear it was controlling them

 

“STOP” the room silenced “the spear, it’s controlling yo-us you have to stop”

 

And then the world went to hell.


	17. the end of the end but a new beginning

The rest of Nio's day past in blurs of action and devastation. When he asks zio Nick later how this all started, he'll learn that the mind-controlled Barton took over the helecarrier with an arrow.  _A fucking arrow took down the entire craft of a secret spy organisation - not their highest point clearly. S_ uddenly he's back in his suit being made into a Nio smoothie by one of the engines whilst giving tech directions to captain america. He manages to save his life using his powers no thanks to cap who manages to not pull the giant lever that would have saved him a lot of pain. After that it's not too long before he's back in the meeting room with his zio and cap learning that 'agent is dead'. He feels bad, of course he does - the man may have threatened him, but he thought he was doing his job, he sacrificed himself to save others and Nio could understand that, he'd done that himself. But as he stares down at the holder where Loki used to be, he gets lost in his mind, doesn't even hear Rogers walk in. Captain America, Howard's favourite son, talking about sacrifice for the greater good. Nio sacrificed more than he ever could and all Nio's mind was able to think was an endless loop of _'you signed up to be a science experiment, I didn't and yet your 'sacrifice is noble'? I gave up so much by letting Howard go, I spent years thinking that he would find me and yet I lived with it knowing that by doing so I had helped save hundreds of innocent lives. I have seen so much more than you ever could, seen soldiers, innocent people, my family hurt and yet you think you can talk about knowing people worth 10 of me, saying I'm nothing without the suit, that suit is nothing without me.'_  "Is this the first time you've lost a soldier?"  _' no, I lost several right in front of me. That's an insult to me, my character. He's read my file, that's a cruel jab at my past, a look into my greatest fear: innocent people dying so how dare you'_ "We are NOT soldiers" 

He manages to clear his mind, seeing the shock on the old man's face when he finally snaps back. He talks out some of his ideas before it hits him - his  _fucking_ _tower._

 

It doesn't take long before everyone is suited up on the way to his tower. Nio arrives first in a broken suit and sees the god prowling his living room and now he's out of the suit and close up, loki's eyes look like Barton under Loki's control. His mind,  _damn_ , the 'wires' were all messed and Blue was showing several 'wires' that just shouldn't be there. Then Loki was pressing the glow stick of destiny against him and with the physical contact he's able to push some of his powers into the god and tells Blue to keep him updated. His conscious process is working on fighting Loki as he tosses him out of a window and strains his powers to speed his suit up to catch him as he falls. Subconsciously, he focuses on putting his powers into de-tangling Loki's mind. As he flies up, he remembers how Natashalie saved Barton, but from his scans, Loki seems more complicated and he doesn't want to do more harm so he blasts him in the chest watching with hope as the god knocks his head on the steps behind him. A quick scan shows it knocked some things back into place but not enough for Blue to be of real help but he kept his power where it was hoping against all odds that something would happen and he could save another innocent life. 

 

His team was here. With a final glance at the god, he turned tail and started fighting alongside the rest of the team. His mind was a whirlwind of calculations, keeping an eye on those around him, how best to fight the aliens and where the civilians were. 

 

His com sparked to life with the worried voice of Director Fury, a nuke was on it's way.

 

Nio could see it. He knew there wasn't another way, his calculations were always correct. Flying underneath it, he aimed his way to the portal. Mentally, he said his goodbyes. To his zia and Zio, the mutants and zio Charlie, his brothers and his little luce del sol - he told Sharon what a great agent she'd grow up to be, because he knew that's what she wanted to be, she idolised both her aunt and her uncle and wanted to be like Nio and his brothers. Plus he could read minds, of course he knew. He could feel her fear, she was too young to know what this goodbye was for but knew it was nothing good - it held a faint echo of the time her cousin told her of the poison running trough his veins and she could see the worry and sorrow in her aunt's eyes and posture. With one last order to JARVIS he called his brothers, two finishing up in budapest and one with the mutants - he said he loved them and thanked them for staying with him and as the connection was lost he knew he'd made the right decision just like all those years ago when he made his family keep Howard alive. As he watched the mothership explode he sent one last wave of power to Loki, something had happened, a hit on the head maybe, and watched as Blue confirmed what he already knew - Loki would be fine, either through an asgardian healer or through Nio if he could get physical contact again. But, it'd have to be the former.

 

And then he was falling... 

 

He woke up to stars in his eyes, and captain America leaning over him talking about winning. JARVIS and Blue flickered to life both telling him he'd been actually dead for minuets. As he stood, he sent messages to all of his family telling them of the newer circumstances. 

 

The team trudged along the empty, destroyed streets of New York towards the Stark Tower. It didn't take long for Loki to come to and once he did he found himself surrounded by the heros. Nio shifted forwards, intent on some kind of contact, all he needed was a few seconds and he could push enough power into the god's mind to free him of whatever control he was still under. Natashalie pushed him back and he scowled at the back of her head. Blue was pointing out the subtle differences between the Loki in front of him and the one in Belgium - for starters this one had blue and emerald green eyes, showing the slip in control the other person had over the god of mischief's mind, it was also shown in the posture - more unsure, submissive and his tone was smoother and less condescending. Soon the would-be-king was in handcuffs and an asgardian gag, assured by Thor that they could hold both the strength and the magic of Loki, the small team of heros left to eat.

 

Victory dinner was a long stretch of eating and awkward silences. Nio gently prodded at Thor's mind try to find what Loki would be facing upon his return. Not at lot was the answer, he would receive no trial only imprisonment and the gag would stay on til he was alone in his cell to avoid him using his 'silvertongue' to escape - not to avoid the truth of course. Nio had no doubt that Odin the All-father didn't know about the condition of Loki, but he needed someone to blame to keep his people under his control and Loki fit the bill - an outsider, a misfit, a magic user not a warrior and and an outcast prince. Nio was not happy. 

 

Once they had return to the helecarrier for a debrief, Nio did want he did best - think. If he could move Loki's extraction back by a week he'd have two weeks to try and free his mind, then he could get the truth. Maybe this could work. Maybe not.

 

"We should move Loki as quickly as possible" rogers' voice shattered through Nio's planning, "with all due respect director having him here is making me and the people uneasy. The quicker and the quieter we move him the better." Idiot.

"Two weeks, we move him in two weeks and the town will have time to rebuild itself, people can come and watch, wave of their would-be-conqueror." Nio could feel captain patriotic glare at the back of his head.

"Is everything about the media for you?"

"No. But it would raise moral among the people to see the invader shoved off back home ne'er to return again, right? And you're all about moral, aren't you? I've seen the pictures" Nio responded without looking back at Steve, too busy maintaining eye contact with his zio. Fury had to get the idea, his curiosity begged him to find the truth. Why would a genius god create a plan with so many failures? Unless he wanted it to fail, wanted to be caught, wanted to be freed. 

"In two weeks we move Loki. Thor tell your father, the rest of you leave I need to talk to Stark" Fury had made up his mind, time to see what his nephew had in mind as he was obviously planning something. "Stay on board, I'll need to talk to you all after"

Nio watched with bored eyes as the rest of the team traipsed out of the small room, presumably to clean up from the battle.

"What are you thinking?"  
Nio debated quickly the pros and cons of being completely blunt or trying to sugarcoat what he wanted to do. Being blunt won quickly.

"IwanttogointoLoki'scage'cuzIthinkIcanfreehismindandgetthetruthfromhimasheisn'tgettingatrialonasgardandIthinkhe'sinnocent." Nio breathed in and tried to look innocent as Nick worked through what he had said.

It took a while but fury was apt at understanding Nio by now and was quick to reply before his silence was taken as an answer. "No absolutely not. If you're wrong and he's not innocent.." Fury trailed off as blue lights lit up around the pair, Blue showing the changes and signs towards Loki's innocence, Thor's knowledge and acceptance of what awaited his 'brother' on their return. 

 

"One try and you use your powers to paralyse him"

"Done, square deal."

 

It wasn't long after before the team was recalled into the room. Fury had already told the youngest the next announcement so Nio sat messing with his phone planning out how he was going to free Loki from the control. And reading the thoughts of those around him.

Steve Rogers: couldn't stop comparing him to his apparently amazing, wonderful, great etc etc father and his mind was mostly stuck in the past. Looks like he'd refused any history lessons and wanted to learn his own way, but mainly his thoughts and feelings were edged with disappointment that Tony wasn't like his father.

Clint Barton: his face was blank but through his thoughts Nio could see he was more observant than he lead people to believe. He, unlike the others, had seen the failures in Loki's plan but hadn't connected them to innocence or mind control but rather arrogance and an inflated sense of self esteem.

Natashalie Rushmanova: her mind pretty much matched her face - blank. She saw victory and not the sacrifice. But her thoughts were mainly split between two focus points, evidence that her report on Tony Stark was correct (which it wasn't but some of her 'evidence was hilarious - carried nuke due to thinking he's better than everyone else which clearly shows his narcissistic qualities. Seriously?) And thinking about the fight and how well she did - and she calls him narcissistic.

Bruce Banner: Nio found most his thoughts were still tinged with an essence of green and he briefly wondered if the green would ever fade or if all his thoughts were shared and seen by the the hulk. He was too tired to be thinking much but was mainly focusing on how he would probably have to escape shield again.

Thor: his thoughts were hard for Nio to read but his emotions were wide open. Nio wondered if this was a species barrier that made Thor to read, but he'd been able to read Loki even under mind control and fighting off said control so Nio assumed it was just a Thor thing.

 

"The WSC has decided that they want you all in the same place in case there is another emergency." Fury's gaze fell on each member, the two agents were listening now, the idea of being moved, a new mission so to speak interested them. Banner was visibly scared at this and Thor didn't care, but Rogers was listening rapt withal, the soldier obedience shining through, a hilarious contrast to his pseudo nephew who was, to him, clearly reading the minds of those in the room, but to the rest it must look like he was simply playing on his phone - Rogers had noticed this if his glare at Nio was anything to go by. He cleared his throat and carried on. "they 'suggested' Stark tower and Stark has agreed to put by several floors to accommodate them, you'll move in straight the way, sharing a floor. By the time Loki has been seen off, your floors should be undergoing construction" Now the agents looked annoyed, especially Romanova who probably thought living with the billionaire would be like being his PA. Banner looked relieved though, however the Captain looked in pain at the mere idea of living with Nio.

 

The meeting ended soon after and the team split without saying much. The two agents who lived on the helecarrier went to their rooms, whilst Thor, Rogers and Banner went to find their two week temporary rooms. Nio, however had his own destination in mind. 

 

"Loki."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for any mistakes, my laptop crashed and I've had to write the whole thing on my phone. Anyway, hoped you enjoyed the chapter.


	18. A god among men, a mutant among humans

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Anything in bold is a thought projection or thought being read by a telepath.

"Loki."

 

Said god's head tilted as a response, face calm but mind and emotions a whirl of action.Fear, anger, uncertainty...hope. Ideas and fears of Nio being there to gloat, to hurt him, eyes whipped around the large glass cage he was being kept in for an escape before going to move his hand. Eyes blowing wide when his hand didn't. Blue green eyes meeting Nio's chocolate brown ones as he struggled to move.

 

"I'm not here to gloat, I'm not here to hurt you."  **I have my own type of magic, the only way I could get permission to talk was if I paralysed you. Once I've left, you'll be able to move, that I promise.** Loki's eyes widened even further as a smooth voice washed over his mind. "You're innocent. That's why I'm here. Your eyes were blue now they're blue and green, whatever control this thing has over you has slipped enough for you to have your mind back, right? I know it's not an illusion, your posture, your voice all changed when your eyes did." Stark's eyes never left the god's, as he spoke he answered each question that entered Loki's mind before he's even fully formed them.  **No one knows of my powers, the camera's audio isn't working either no one will know what I say. I'm here to help, think what you want to say and I will respond.**

 

**How are you going to help me. I'm a god.**

**A fallen one, by the looks of things. And I wouldn't sound so arrogant, its not very you.**

**You don't know me Stark.**

**I know your mind, your emotions. I know you can't move because of me, you can't talk, cast magic because of your brother.**

**HE'S NOT MY BROTHER. My mind? How?**

 

Zio raised his eyebrows at the outburst but didn't back down, paced slightly to his left, his back now to the camera. He allowed some of his iron grip on his control slip, his eyes and roots of is hair turning electric blue, the illusion that made him seem older slipped as well leaving a 26 year old standing in his place.

**I'm not as human as you think, Loki. We call it an x-gene. Creates 'powers'. Mine is all electricity - big and small, the electricity in technology to the electricity your very heart makes. The ability to read the mind and emotions. This is how I really look when my powers are loose.**

**So, your a god among men?**

**Nah, a mutant among humans, your a god among men. But see I can help you.**

**I sense you already did. A knock on the head shouldn't have knocked the, other's, control on me yet it did. I can sense when there is magic beyond my own within me.**

**Be nice to him, his name's Blue and he's helped me through everything. And so maybe I started earlier but the control is not gone. Just a few seconds of contact and I can set you free. Please.**

**Why?**

**Why what?**

**Why help your would be conqueror?**

**Because that's not you. The one who controlled you is the enemy.**

**The enemy of my enemy is my friend?**

**No.**

**What then Stark, I grow tired of talking to you.**

**I can't let another innocent die. I know you want my help. Mind-reader remember.**

**It won't do any help.** Only now did Loki's tone change from sure of himself to quiet, subdued Nio could even call it shy. Nevertheless, he'd clearly got through the mask Loki had been projecting.

**I can give you your mind back, surely that will help you. You must know what awaits you on Asgard.**

**Nothing good I'm sure.**

**I can help you. Surely you can escape if you have a mind of your own.**

**Maybe. Maybe not. Why would you want me free? Why wait for my consent? This seems important to you, you have me at your mercy you could have 'freed' me already, why wait?**

**I want an innocent free, that's not a crime. You ARE innocent. You yourself confirmed this. But I don't use my powers to influence others without consent. I can't help reading everyone's mind, all their emotions, I can't stop that, not without an impact on my mind, my powers, but I can get consent before changing something, someone. If I didn't i would be no different to _him._** Nio didn't know if the all-speak worked in Loki's mind or if he'd understand Italian at all and had been careful to stick to english, Blue correcting mistakes as he sent the 'messages' - accessing JARVIS if he needed help, but he'd gotten carried away, thinking about his past, about Howard. Loki's eyebrows raised at the change in language, his own magic tried to surge up to translate but getting stuck painfully in his constraints. He knew his wince had been picked up by the younger of the two when Stark's illusion covered his face and his hair and eyes returned to normal. He tried not to mourn the loss knowing full well the man in front could and would probably pick up on it. Although it seemed like something else had the man's attention as he barely flicked his eyes up to meet the god's when the thought raced quickly through Loki's mind, instead reaching for the god's hand, surprising said god when his arm moved up easily instead of remaining heavily at his side like when he'd tried to move it. Nio's eyes swept the bracelet like constraint, before an emotion Loki couldn't name glazed his eyes.

**This hurts you. On purpose. Why?**

**It is Asgard's way of punishing a Mage.**

**What do they do to warriors?**

**Why does it matter what the do to them. Are you worried for my dear brother?**

**No. But are the punishments equal? DO they both purposely cause pain?**

**NO. But it doesn't matter Stark.**

**It does.**

**Why?**

**Here we call it discrimination, treating someone else worse than others because of who they are. Its a serious offence. These shouldn't hurt.**

**Its the way Asgard is ran. And they do, but it doesn't matter.**

 

Stark's eyes met his, almost like they were seeking approval. Loki allowed himself to nod, knowing what the man wanted to do. Nio let his eyes slid shut, focusing on his power, both in and out of the god in front of him, before focusing on Loki's mind...then he pushed. Imagining all the wires straight and in place, pushing the control out, seeing those green eyes, the smoother talk, submissive posture, seeing what made Loki Loki and not what made him a puppet, slowly giving him back the mind he'd lost so long ago. Opening his eyes, when he felt a free mind, free emotions around him instead of a scared, trapped one. 

**Someone's coming.**

Loki nodded slightly showing he understood, Stark wasn't meant to be here and couldn't be caught here.

 

He turned away. Leaving the cage as Loki watched, leaving the room.

 

 

**Escape.**

 

 

  **I'll try.**

**Author's Note:**

> Short I know but this is just the intro. Next chapter will be up tomorrow night.


End file.
